Market Stall Auction
These rules are in-progress and are not final. Throughout OrbusVR, Market Stalls are available for lease by players. Players who lease a stall may sell goods to other players at prices they set. The stall is always available to sell items even if you are not online. Stalls can currently hold 12 items (upgradable to 24 items) for sale. Stall Auction Approximately once per month at their discretion, the Dev Team will hold an auction to determine the price of leasing a stall. The auctions are done manually by the Dev Team and are not an automatic process. The auction takes place using the following format: * A separate auction is held for the Highsteppe Market and the Guild City Market. * Stalls are auctioned off with the following sealed-bid format: ** Each potential leasee submits one bid for how much they are willing to pay to lease a stall for the month. ** The bids are sorted from highest to lowest, with the lowest "accepted" bid depending on how many stalls are available. For example, if there are 6 stalls available, the 6th-highest bid would be the "lowest accepted bid." ** All bidders are required to pay only the lowest accepted bid for the stall (this is the "month's lease price"). Stall preferences for specific stalls in a market are approved from highest to lowest bid. ** What this means practically is that it's in your interest to bid the maximum amount are are willing to pay for a stall, as you will still only pay the lowest price of a successful bid. Bidding higher allows you to get your preference for the stall you are assigned. ** The reserve bid for a monthly lease is 5,000 dram. No bids below this amount will be accepted. * Once the stalls have been assigned, the month's lease price is automatically deducted from the player's account, and their stall is assigned to them. * If a current stall occupant does not bid enough to retain their stall (or chooses not to submit a bid at all), they have a 3-day grace period to remove their items from the stall, at which time the stall is cleared out and assigned to its new owner, and any items left in the stall are destroyed. * If a current stall occupant loses their specific stall because another higher bidder wants their spot, their stall's contents will be automatically moved to their new stall's location. * If a player submits a bid for a stall and does not have sufficient dram to pay for the lease when the auction ends, they will be banned from participating in future stall auctions and their bid will be discarded. * A stall can be upgraded to have 24 slots instead of 12 slots by paying a total of 3x the month's lease price. For example, if the month's lease price is 10,000 dram, then a 12-slot stall will cost 10,000 dram, and a 24-slot stall will cost 30,000 dram for that month. Note that this surcharge is not taken into account when a) determining the base bid amount, or b) when determining stall choice preference. Rules Regarding Multiple Stalls and Competition The desire of the Dev Team is to promote a healthy, free market in the stall system. We don't want to see all of the stalls owned by 2 or 3 groups who can then utilize price fixing and monopoly status to drive up prices artificially. Therefore, the following rules apply: * A "Market group" is defined as any single player or group of players who intend to operate one or more stalls for their collective benefit. For example, if a single player wants to own multiple stalls, they would obviously be a "Market group". In addition, if two players in-game each wish to own a stall, but they are stocking their stall via shared supply chains and set prices together, they are also a "Market group." Players in the same Fellowship (and their "alt characters") will be assumed to be a single "Market group" by default unless specifically petitioning the Dev Team and proving otherwise. Generally speaking, it's at the Dev Team's discretion to determine who is in the same Market Group. * A single "Market group" can own one stall (including one upgraded stall) in each Market area (Highsteppe and Guild City). They cannot own more than one stall in a single market area. Category:Economy